About 20 years ago the interest around the last sculpture by Michelangelo, was raised to the attention of the safeguard entities because of the project of a new exhibition site and a collaborative research project carried out under the responsibility of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the restorer company CBC. This important sculpture, considered Michelangelo’s testament, was moved from Rome to Milan in the early 1950s and the famous BBPR architects Studio was commissioned for the set-up of the museum exhibition. Since then the sculpture was, let’s say, partially forgotten.
The conservation needs in the early 2000s, and the necessity of the displacement in the EXPO2015 occasion in Milan, gave rise to a complex diagnostic project that put together scientists, such as chemists and physicist, art-historians, engineers and architects, to improve studies and knowledge about the sculpture. The talk will present the outline of the research activity carried out by scientists and conservators for the cleaning of the marble surfaces, and the activities to mitigate risks connected to the new site of exhibition, the Spanish Hospital in the Sforza’s Castle in Milan.
Thursday 8 September at 6 pm on the Zoom platform. —— > IN ENGLISH <-------
To register click HERE.
Event in the context of the collaboration between the IIC Dublin and the Politecnico di Milano.
References
Michelangelo “La Pietà Rondanini” Nell’Ospedale Spagnolo del Castello di Milano. G. Mori e C. Salsi Eds., Allemandi Editions 2021
La Pietà Rondanini: il Michelangelo di Milano. Conoscenza e Conservazione, M.T. Fiorio and L.Toniolo Eds. Comune di Milano 2006.
Bio
Prof. Lucia Toniolo is Full Professor of Material Science and Technology at Politecnico di Milano. She is married with three children. Since 2006 is the Responsible of the scientific Laboratory Materials and Methods for Cultural Heritage at the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering. In the period 2012-2017 is appointed President of the Cultural Heritage Center of Politecnico di Milano. In the period 2015-18 has been elected President of the Division of Environmental and Cultural Heritage Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society. Since 2016 is Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation. Since 2017, appointed Scientific Delegate of the Italian Ministry of University and Research and is currently Chair of the General Assembly of the European Research Infrastructure Heritage Science – E-RIHS. She is Field Editor of AATA Online, Abstracts of International Conservation Literature of the Getty Conservation Institute, LA, USA. Main areas of interest in Material Science are as follows: a) analysis, knowledge and conservation of excellence artifacts, in architecture, archaeology, art history and modern design through micro and non-invasive diagnostic techniques for the characterization of materials. b) development and application of innovative non-invasive spectroscopic techniques for the assessment of surface conservation conditions (mainly polychromy), with particular regard to multispectral UV-VIS imaging, time-resolved photoluminescence imaging, micro-FTIR and reflectance FTIR spectroscopy; c) development and testing of innovative materials for the conservation of stone surfaces, with regard to protective treatments and photocatalytic nanomaterials for self-cleaning and antifouling properties. LT is author of about 120 publications on scientific peer-reviewed journals, and 150 on proceedings of Conferences and chapters in books. Scopus h-Index 30, total citations 2692.